{"id":384,"date":"2010-02-02T18:15:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T18:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/2010\/02\/02\/achilles-and-the-war-on-terror\/"},"modified":"2010-02-02T18:15:07","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T18:15:07","slug":"achilles-and-the-war-on-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/2010\/02\/02\/achilles-and-the-war-on-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"Achilles and the War on Terror"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS <\/strong><\/p>\n

Last Saturday\u2019s Guardian <\/em>had a good\u00a0piece<\/a> by Charlotte Higgins on the contemporary relevance of The Iliad<\/em>.\u00a0 Although it is interesting, the article makes some comparisons that are overly simplistic and should instead have concentrated more on looking at the emotional and psychological effects of ancient and modern war, rather than trying to highlight any political similarities.<\/p>\n

Homer\u2019s account of the mythical Trojan War does hold some modern relevance and is, for good reason, required reading for students at West Point military academy.\u00a0 Although, as Higgins notes, Homer\u2019s descriptions of combat are \u2018frequently implausible\u2019 (The Iliad<\/em> has few references to the inevitable mass of injured and dying on the battlefield for example) and there is little to be gleaned by way of battlefield tactics, his masterful illustration of the pathos of war and the emotional trauma that can often come with it is timeless. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the main themes of the poem is the \u2018Wrath of Achilles\u2019:\u00a0 it is what leads to both the near defeat of the Achaeans and to their eventual victory.\u00a0 We are first introduced to this wrath when the leader of the Greek coalition, Agamemnon, decides to take Achilles\u2019 captive Trojan woman, Briseis.\u00a0 Scorned, Achilles vows never to lift a sword again in the name of Agamemnon\u2019s war.\u00a0 \u00a0However, as Higgins notes, it is Achilles\u2019 final show of wrath that is more relevant to modern war.\u00a0 Referring to Jonathan Shay\u2019s study of Vietnam War veterans, she notes similarities with Achilles\u2019 reaction to the death of his companion, Patroclus:<\/p>\n

\n

When Antilochus brings Achilles the news of Patroclus\u2019s death in book\u00a018,<\/p>\n

\u201cA black cloud of grief came shrouding over Achilles<\/p>\n

Both hands clawing the ground for soot and filth,<\/p>\n

he poured it over his head, fouled his handsome face<\/p>\n

and black ashes settled on to his fresh clean war-shirt,<\/p>\n

Overpowered in all his power, sprawled in the dust,<\/p>\n

Achilles lay there, fallen . . .<\/p>\n

tearing his hair, defiling it with his own hands . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Shay records one of his patients recalling his own fury: \u201cI really loved fucking killing, couldn\u2019t get enough. For every one of them I killed I felt better. Made some of the hurt went away [sic<\/em>]. Every time you lost a friend it seemed like a part of you was gone. Get one of them to compensate what they had done to me. I got very hard, cold, merciless. I lost all my mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Achilles also gets hard, cold, merciless. Even by the standards of The Iliad<\/em>, his killing spree is grotesque. He cannot sleep or eat; he thinks only of killing: \u201cwhat I really crave \/ is slaughter and blood and the choking groans of men\u201d. He slakes his bloodthirst by felling men, by filling the waters of the Scamander so full of bodies and gore that the river deity himself rises up from the depths in anger. It is \u201call day permanent red\u201d, to borrow the memorable title of one of \u00adChristopher\u00a0Logue\u2019s\u00a0\u00adpoetic reimaginings of The Iliad<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Achilles captures 12 Trojan men whom he will sacrifice on Patroclus\u2019s pyre \u2013 again, even by the standards of The Iliad<\/em>, a horrific act; today, we would call it a war crime.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After the death of Patroclus, Achilles loses what little military discipline he had, and in some instances kills opponents where before he would have spared them.\u00a0 For example, Higgins notes that although Achilles spared the Trojan prince Lycaon when he took him captive after their first meeting, he does not hesitate in dispatching him after Patroclus is killed, despite his pleas for mercy.\u00a0 In modern war, this loss of discipline by soldiers acting out of revenge has been well documented and the University of Lancaster\u2019s Professor Peter Rowe noted in the Journal of Conflict and Security Law<\/em> last year that that the desire to avenge the death of a comrade \u2018can have the same effect as if soldiers had become intoxicated with alcohol or drugs.\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0This is certainly the effect that the death of Patroclus had on Achilles. <\/p>\n

Unlike many elements of the human psyche, politics has changed quite a bit since Homer\u2019s time, and this is where Higgins\u2019 analysis falls short.\u00a0 Quoting from Achilles\u2019 verbal attack on Agamemnon after the king took Briseis, she makes a rather weak comparison with the present conflict in Iraq:<\/p>\n

\n

During his outburst to Agamemnon in book one, Achilles says:<\/p>\n

The Trojans never did me damage, not in the least,<\/p>\n

they never stole my cattle or my horses, never<\/p>\n

in Phthia where the rich soil breeds strong men<\/p>\n

did they lay water my crops. How could they?<\/p>\n

Look at the endless miles that lie between us . . .<\/p>\n

shadowy mountain ranges, seas that surge and thunder.<\/p>\n

No, you, colossal, shameless \u2013 we all followed you,<\/p>\n

to please you, to fight for you, to win your honour<\/p>\n

back from the Trojans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis war is stupid and pointless. It\u2019s not our country and it\u2019s not our fight,\u201d is a view typical of those recorded by Guardian photographer and film-\u00admaker Sean Smith when he was embedded among US troops in Iraq.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Comparing Agamemnon\u2019s siege of Troy to the coalition invasion of Iraq is, for obvious reasons, shockingly facile.\u00a0 This space could have been better utilised if, for example, Higgins looked instead at the role of fate in The<\/em> Iliad<\/em>, and how Homer tried to deal with the terrifying randomness of death: a subject that is relevant to any war, both ancient and modern.<\/p>\n

focusonislamism@standpointmag.co.uk<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n


\n\"\"Clouds of war and strategic delusions<\/a>
\n
\n\"\"\u2018Safety first\u2019: the war on risk<\/a>
\n
\n\"\"The war against Chinese Christians<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday’s Guardian had a good piece by Charlotte Higgins on the contemporary relevance of The Iliad. Although it is interesting, the article makes some comparisons that are overly simplistic and should instead have concentrated more on looking at the emotional and psychological effects of ancient and modern war, rather than trying to highlight any political similarities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}